Sunday, April 10, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Sophomore Jake Eagan teamed with freshman Jason Yoon at second doubles to secure Dwight-Englewood's 3-2 win over Bergen Tech on Saturday.

ENGLEWOOD – It takes a strong-willed mind to play second doubles on a varsity tennis team. There are always junior varsity players nipping at your heels trying to crack the varsity lineup and, although second doubles just as much as the other matches, those players do not often receive the attention or have the match experience that the singles players do. So when a the outcome comes down to the second doubles team, that duo will often alter its style of play under the pressure of the moment.

When all players and fans of both teams gravitated to watch the second doubles match between Dwight-Englewood and Bergen Tech, it was D-E sophomore Jake Eagan and freshman Jason Yoon knew exactly what was at stake. It would be easy, even understandable, for them to wilt under their first pressure-packed moment of their varsity careers. Instead, Eagan and Yoon not only held their own, but thrived under the bright lights and gave the Bulldogs their first big victory of the season.

Eagan and Yoon made only three unforced errors in the second set and none in the final game of the match to win in straight sets and lift Dwight-Englewood to a 3-2 victory over Bergen Tech on Saturday in Englewood.

Max Sacks gave Dwight-Englewood an early edge with his 6-1, 6-4 win at first singles.

“It feels good to be the ones to help win the match and it gives us a lot of confidence for the rest of the season,” said D Eagan.

The first singles match was an intriguing between good friends Max Sacks of Dwight-Englewood and Bergen Tech’s Nicholas Rosasco. Sacks broke early in both sets and held off a rally in the second set to score a 6-1, 6-4 victory.

The Knights got a point right back at second singles when Edward Kang scored the most impressive victory of the day with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over Eric Rosengart. Jason Katz overcame a sluggish start and used a late break to win the first set before pulling away early in the second for a 6-4, 6-1 victory at third singles, but again the Knights bounced right back to tie the match.

Bergen Tech’s first doubles tandem of Mitchell Gouzenko and Chris Park took control at the net late in the second set to score a 6-1, 6-4 victory and send the match to a deciding fifth point at second doubles.

“When I saw everyone coming over to watch our match, I kind of figured that it was tied and it was going to come down to us,” added Eagan. “We couldn’t let that affect us and we had to keep playing the way we had been playing all along.”

Bergen Tech's Edward Kang coasted to a 6-1, 6-2 win at second singles.

Juni Kim and Sam Choi came up with back-to-back volleys to cut what was a 4-1 lead down to 4-3 for Bergen Tech (3-1). It was a tipping point for Eagan and Yoon, who showed poise well beyond their years by buckling down and continuing to play consistent tennis. Without making a single error, Eagan held serve and then they broke to close out a 6-4, 6-3 triumph and improve Dwight-Englewood’s record to 3-0 on the season.

“We knew what we had to do, we just had to execute,” said Yoon. “We know what our strengths are and we started to attack their weaknesses more. The key was just playing our style and adjusting to more people watching our match. No matter if everyone was watching or no one was watching, we want to keep playing the same way.”

Dwight-Englewood, the defending Non-Public B state champ, passed the first of several tough tests it will face this season. Although the Bulldogs will regularly throw an inexperienced doubles lineup out there, this is the first of what head coach Joe Iwanski feels are many steps towards being a title contender once again this season.

“This is a real good win for us and gives us a lot of hope for the rest of the season,” said Iwanski. “We’re a young team with just two seniors and one junior. We’re still mixing and match to try and figure out our doubles. (Eagan and Yoon) were just so cool under fire today and I couldn’t be happier with the way they battled. An experience like this can only help us in the long run and get us better as a team in the long run.”

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